Tissue sample collection and drainage traps are known in the art. See for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,643,197 and 5,108,381 incorporated herein by this reference.
Typically, an endoscope is used in combination with a biopic surgical instrument whereby tissue specimens along with fluid can be extracted under suction from a body cavity and carried through the endoscope into a tissue specimen trap container interconnected between a) the endoscope or a suction tube leading to the endoscope and b) a suction tube leading to a fluid collection container and/or the vacuum source. Polyps are extracted and collected in this manner for biopsy and analysis.
The specimen trap container housing the collected tissue is then disconnected from the endoscope and the suction tube. It is intended by the manufacturer that the specimen trap container be used as the means for transferring the specimen to a pathologist who ultimately examines the collected tissue sample. The truth is, most pathologists direct the hospital technicians and nurses to extract the tissue sample from the specimen trap container and then place the tissue sample in a specimen vial filled with formaldehyde. Once the pathologist receives the specimen vial, the pathologist then removes the tissue sample from the specimen vial and examines it.
Thus, prior art tissue sample collection traps which can range in cost from $2–6 are actually only used for trapping tissue and they are then discarded. Several designs have attempted to solve the problem of extracting the tissue sample from the fluid within the trap and, for example, have added filters with a number of individual tissue traps (see the '197 patent) but such designs are unduly complex and thus even more expensive.
Moreover, the traps themselves must be discarded in biohazard containers which increases the cost to the hospital and ultimately to the patient.